Bar none, these meringue cookies used to be my favorite growing up. They’re nothing more than two meringue kisses with a buttercream filling and crumbled walnuts.

Every once in a while I lose that loving feeling for baking. Shocking, I know. Sometimes I hit a wall and run out of fun ideas, or turn out a series of fails and I throw in the towel. I hate to admit it, but it really does happen. This week, I had to regroup with a recipe that was familiar and comforting.

This particular recipe is a homage to my great aunt, who first introduced me to these cookies. The only memory I have of her is when I used to visit her antique-clad home– she would set these cookies out for all the kids. Actually, she would always lay out an assortment of petit fours and they were always over the top. She passed a few years back, but her baking legacy lives on in my family.

Buttercream Meringue Cookies (makes 24 cookies)Ingredients:

Vanilla Meringue
- 3 large egg whites (approx. 90 grams)
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (suitable substitute = 1 tsp of lemon juice)
- 3/4 cup white sugar, processed in a food processor until super fine
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- food coloring (optional; I made plain cookies and I didn’t dye them. Usually used to identify the flavor of the filling. ie. pink=strawberry, green=pisachio, etc.)
+ favorite filling (these cookies are to be treated like french macarons; you can make the filling any flavor you like… I used a rich chocolate buttercream)
+ chopped nuts (I used walnuts, but you can use pistachios, almonds, etc.)

1. Preheat oven to 200′f. Using the whisk attachment of your electric mixer, beat the egg whites on low-medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar or lemon juice and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Add the sugar little by little and continue beating on medium-high speed. Add vanilla and beat until meringue holds stiff peaks.

My first few meringues were a little uneven (as above), but once you get the hang of it, you can make nice peaks. Bake meringues for about an hour and a half, rotating the baking sheet from front to back (about half way through) to ensure even baking. The meringues are done when they are pale in color and fairly crisp.

Prepare your filling while your meringues cool. For the chocolate buttercream: using the whisk attachment on your mixer, whip softened butter and sugar until light and pale. Mix milk and cocoa until combined, and add to butter/sugar mixture. Whip until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl from time to time.

Pipe a dollop of butter cream on the bottom of a meringue, and top it off with another meringue cookie. Roll the meringue cookies in fine chopped nut (they’ll adhere to the buttercream).

Serve ‘em! You can use any butter cream filling, and any garnish. Go nuts.

4 Comments For This Post

Meringue can be made to have “soft peaks”, “medium peaks”, and “stiff peaks”. Progression is linear from soft to stiff, and if you aren’t careful you can overbeat eggs (they’ll lose volume and look dry)

Best advice is to take it slow, and increase speed gradually. . Don’t crank the whip all the way to high. There are few key stages of a meringue to watch out for: foamy (think soapy water)–> creamy (think shaving cream) –> soft peaks (the ‘peak’ folds over) –> medium peak (small peak folds over) –> stiff peaks (very firm, glossy and looks stiff.) STOP your mixer right here, don’t go any further!

Here are a few more guidelines:

1. Make sure all equipment is free of any fat or grease traces. Fats prevent whites from foaming properly. Don’t use a plastic bowl, or any surfaces that retain grease.

2. Egg whites should be at room temperature. Remove eggs from the cooler 1 hour before whipping

3. Sugar makes egg whites more stable. Meringues are thicker and heavier than unsweetened egg whites, and they are more stable.

4. Add an acid (cream of tartar, or lemon juice). A small amount of acid helps give volume and stability.

[…] This recipe is by far the easiest holiday recipe to execute. Once you pipe the delicate meringue and pop the trays in the oven, you have 2 hours to meander away from the kitchen. The other perk about this recipe is that the meringues hold really, really well! Cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. (makes about 30 x 1′ cookies)Ingredients:- 3 large egg whites (3 ounces or 90 grams)- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar- 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar, pulsed in a food processor until fine- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract- Red and green food coloring (optional)+ technique for painting rainbow macarons+ piping bag, fitted with a star tip+ paint brush Directions:1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the eggwhites on low-medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the sugar, a little at a time, and continue to beat on medium-high speed, until the meringue holds very stiff peaks. Beat in the vanilla extract.3. Take aside 2 tablespoons of meringue– dye one tablespoon using red food dye and one using the green food dye. Using this technique, paint two strips, one with the green meringue, and one with the red meringue down the side of a piping bag fitted with a star tip.4. Pipe ~1″ stars on your piping tray; you can use many different patterns (rose, straight, etc.) on your parchment-lined tray. Bake the meringues for approximately 1.5 to 2 hrs. You want to bake meringues until fully dried. Here is another idea to sandwich meringue cookies: http://duhlicious.com/2012/03/bezele-meringue-cookies/ […]

[…] This recipe is by far the easiest holiday recipe to execute. Once you pipe the delicate meringue and pop the trays in the oven, you have 2 hours to meander away from the kitchen. The other perk about this recipe is that the meringues hold really, really well! Cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. (makes about 30 x 1′ cookies)Ingredients:- 3 large egg whites (3 ounces or 90 grams)- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar- 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar, pulsed in a food processor until fine- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract- Red and green food coloring (optional)+ technique for painting rainbow macarons+ piping bag, fitted with a star tip+ paint brush Directions:1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the eggwhites on low-medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the sugar, a little at a time, and continue to beat on medium-high speed, until the meringue holds very stiff peaks. Beat in the vanilla extract.3. Take aside 2 tablespoons of meringue– dye one tablespoon using red food dye and one using the green food dye. Using this technique, paint two strips, one with the green meringue, and one with the red meringue down the side of a piping bag fitted with a star tip.4. Pipe ~1″ stars on your piping tray; you can use many different patterns (rose, straight, etc.) on your parchment-lined tray. Bake the meringues for approximately 1.5 to 2 hrs. You want to bake meringues until fully dried. Here is another idea to sandwich meringue cookies: http://duhlicious.com/2012/03/bezele-meringue-cookies/ […]